


Operator

by thefreckledhorse (TheFreckledHorse)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, drabble thing sorta?, jeanmarco
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-01-17 01:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1368664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFreckledHorse/pseuds/thefreckledhorse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another slow day at Trost Community College.<br/>Another dreadful cold morning.<br/>Jean trudges through the beginning of the day, and receives an unexpected call. Misdialed, perhaps? Roommate Connie takes it upon himself to play operator.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wrong Number

**Author's Note:**

> My first real Attack on Titan fanfiction, the rest have all been started and never concluded. I'm trying to get back into writing, so please forgive if the chapters are a bit short to begin with. They will eventually get to 5k, but I'm working on it. Ahaha, I hope this story is enjoyed.

 

Jean rolled over and groaned, whacking his alarm clock into silence. He sat up and slowly opened his eyes all the way, glaring at the still-dark early morning sky through the gap in his dorm curtain. Jean slowly set his feet on the ground, yawning tiredly. He stood and didn’t bother with the courtesy of being silent or careful as he made his way to the bathroom, reaching to his roommate’s bed and shoving the still-snoring body.

“Get up.” Jean’s voice was low, rough from having just woken up.

He continued on his journey to the bathroom, reaching around for the lightswitch. Jean flicked it on, staring at himself in the mirror, bare chested with circles under his eyes and hair awry, sticking up in all directions. He then turned the shower on so that the water would heat up as he stood awkwardly and tiredly in the bathroom doorway. Adjusting his boxers from where they were crumpled against the skin of his thigh from sleep, he tugged them down, stepping out of them and forward so that he could reach into the shower and test the water.

Deeming it sufficiently warmed after a few more attempts at perfecting the temperature, he stepped around the shower curtain and into the path of the water’s stream. Jean stood so that his head was directly beneath the stream, wetting his hair and making it stick to his face mattedly. The warmth of the water spread down his face and chest, all the way down his body until it returned to the drain. He let out a groan, relaxing into the water with great relief, simply standing under the water flow, loving its warmth and the way it relaxed him. Jean’s enjoyment, however, was cut short when the water’s constant, warm spray was replaced with a spluttering burst of senseless cold. Jean jolted to a state of full alertness and flung himself to the opposite wall of the shower, gasping at the sudden temperature change with a horrified face. Entire body tensed, he was met with Connie’s face poking past the shower curtain.

“I’m up!” he said innocently, shrugging.

“You fucking bastard. You could have told me.” Jean growled, relaxing a little.

Connie shook his head with another shrug and trotted away into the main room of the dorm, finding clothes for the day.

His relaxation ruined, Jean gave up on having a peaceful shower and hurriedly washed his face, body and hair. Another five minutes or so passed and he stepped out of the shower, grabbing his towel and drying himself, followed by wrapping it around his waist. He started searching for an outfit, grabbing a pair of boxer briefs from the drawer. Jean stepped into them, hanging his towel immediately after.

Connie was half-dressed, eating a bowl of cereal at the counter while shirtless, and, when Jean looked to him, he grinned around the spoon and mouthful of frosted miniwheats in his mouth. Connie grunted his acknowledgement of Jean, grinning wider around the cereal, a little bit of the milk starting to dribble from the corner of his mouth. Furrowing his eyebrows with repulsive intrigue (and perhaps even slight alarm), Jean returned to the closet and found some clothes for the day. Donning them with ease, he brushed his hair out, staring at himself in the mirror once more. My Chemical Romance tee, black jeans, black zip up hoodie, and black converse that were a ways from being visible in the squatty mirror. Jean noted how much black he was wearing but brushed it off, putting his watch on his left wrist. Connie stood and met Jean in the closet, in search for a shirt. Jean escaped the close quarters and headed for the kitchenette, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

He ate in silence until he heard his phone vibrate repeatedly on the counter, and he realized it was a phone call. Jean picked up the phone and stuffed his mouthful to one cheek. “Hello?” he murmured, voice low and tired. Jean quirked an eyebrow.

“ _Hey…?”_ the voice on the other end of the phone replied quizzically, not recognizing the voice of the one who had answered the call.

“Who is this?” he asked, still chewing slowly, as a cow chews cud.

“ _Marco…? Um… I’m speaking to Connie, right?”_ the voice-- Marco’s voice seemed nervous.

“Hah? No…?” Jean furrowed his eyebrows again, swallowing the miniwheats and looking at the phone in his hand. It was not his, as he had thought, but Connie’s. He eyed the phone and illuminated screen. Groaning, he debated hanging up.

“ _Hello…?”_ he heard Marco’s voice squawk through the receiver.

Jean pressed the big, red, ‘End Call’ button, setting the phone down and sliding it further away from him as he resumed eating his cereal which was rapidly becoming soggy. He felt like an idiot - who the fuck was this Marco guy anyway? And why was he calling Connie at seven in the morning?

Connie emerged from around the corner, wearing a sweater with the sleeves shoved up to his elbows. “Hey.”

Jean looked up at him with trepidation. “Hey. Your phone rang.”  
  
Connie’s eyebrows shot up. “Who was it?”

“Some dude named Marco.”  
  
“Oh. Awesome. Thanks.” Connie picked up his phone, opening it and proceeding to call Marco back. Jean was rinsing his bowl by the time Connie walked out the door, on the phone with Marco. Jean grabbed his wallet, keys, phone and bag, heading out only a few moments behind Connie.  
  
Connie was grinning.  
  
“ _Someone else picked up your phone earlier, I think… Eheh…”_ Marco said softly, voice slightly nervous. Whoever had picked up sounded… hot, however cranky they were.

“Whaaaat? Must have been my roommate.” Connie laughed into the phone.

“ _You have a roommate? That’s… cool.”_ he responded.

Connie hummed in approval. “Mhm. It is. I should totally introduce you sometime.”  
  
Marco stammered a bit, despite being a social butterfly, he was a little nervous about meeting the grumpy roommate who had answered the call.

“He went to our highschool, too, Marco. You two probably never met, which is why you’re being all weird about it. But he’s a pretty chill guy - you’ll get along well.”

 


	2. Cappuccino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day continues with calculus practice and a run to the coffee shop nearby in a flurry of snow, preparing for a long day ahead, unbeknownst to Jean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intend to be updating every Wednesday, as of today. I'll do my very best to keep it updated. The first few chapters will be sort of filler-like, but that is to be expected of the beginning of a story, right? XD Please enjoy it.

Jean was heading to the student lounge on the east end of campus, pulling his headphones from his backpack as he walked. He plugged them into his phone and pressed shuffle on his music, adjusting the volume. The weather outside was still chilly enough that his breath condensed in slow clouds that shimmered in the rich, low light of the sunrise as he walked. The music filled his ears, and he gratefully took it in, entering the already bustling student lounge quietly, walking to a table with his hands in his hoodie pockets. He set his bag in the chair beside him, pulling out a spiral notebook and a pencil, glancing around.

He and Armin had agreed to meet in the student lounge at seven fifteen to help Jean with calculus, and Armin didn’t seem to be around. Jean sighed a little, tapping his pencil in irritation. He spotted Eren across the room, shouting something that he could not hear (he silently thanked his headphones) at someone Jean did not recognize. Beside him was Mikasa, and behind them both was Armin, who was slowly removing himself from the situation and starting to walk in Jean’s direction. Maintaining eye contact, Jean nodded at Armin in acknowledgement, turning his music off and pulling his headphones down to rest around his neck.

“Hey, Armin.” he didn’t bother to offer a smile, Jean feeling dead due to a lack of coffee that resulted from this very arrangement being made.

Armin gave a small smile at Jean, however, and sat down across from the other. “Sorry about that.”  
  
Jean scoffed almost silently, raising an incredulous eyebrow at the fiasco across the room. “Jäger’s making a fuss, huh?”

Responding with a simple silent nod, Armin removed his calculator, notebook and pencil from his own bag. “Yeah… Someone mentioned his and Mikasa’s parents offhandedly, and he flew into a fit of rage.”  
  
Jean raised his eyebrows at Armin, opening his notebook and tilting his head expectantly.

“He didn’t get any sleep last night - he was cramming a seven-page paper.” Armin explained sheepishly, finding their practice examples.

Seeming unimpressed, Jean shrugged and dropped the topic. “How many do we have?”

“Eight.” Armin told him, gesturing towards his paper of examples and starting to demonstrate the first problem.

\--

Connie hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket, waving at Sasha who was running towards him with a goofy grin on her face. “Connie! I finished my paper!” she exclaimed excitedly, stopping mere inches before Connie’s body.   
  
“Heh… That makes one of us!” he grinned boyishly back at her, looking exceptionally proud for not having completed the assignment. Sasha laughed at Connie’s procrastinating tendencies and grabbed his hand, dragging him with her towards the cafe. “I almost didn’t.” Sasha then began talking to Connie about the noisy neighbors in the dorm beside hers and how much work it is to concentrate, especially when doing some last-minute, late-night cramming.

Connie shrugged it off. “Guess that’s why I didn’t bother with the paper.” he suggested, grinning slyly. Sasha shook her head and went to go buy food, while Connie sat at a table.

He opened his phone and dialed Marco's number.  
  
" _Hello?"  
  
_ "Hey, Marco! I had a question for you." Connie wore a smile.  
  
There was a pause on the other end of the phone, before a genuinely cheerful voice responded.  _"What would that be, Connie?"_

"Do you want to come over sometime?" he said, eyeing Sasha as she, in turn, eyed food.  
  
 _"Um, sure, when? I have classes tomorrow, but after that, I should be free for a few days at least..."_ Marco replied slowly, as though in deep concentration.  
  
"How about tomorrow night, then, Marco?" Connie offered, smirking a little.

_"Tomorrow night? ...Yeah, I can do that! So, tomorrow night, say, six, at your dorm?"_

"Yeah! Sounds good! See you then!"   
  
 _"Sure thing! See you!"_

He hung up, Sasha approaching with impeccable timing once more. "Who was that?" she asked, with a mouthful of god-knows-what being chewed in her mouth.

"Marco. I invited him over to my dorm tomorrow night." Connie said, snatching a breakfast roll from the array of food.

"What?! But you are coming over to my dorm tomorrow, I thought we were going to--

"We are, Sasha." Connie said, chewing a bite of roll.

Sasha looked confused. "But you..."  
  
"I know."

\--

“And that’s how you would find the formula, do you see the way they can reverse?” Armin was pointing with his pencil eraser to the problem they had just finished. After some brief studying the numbers and symbols - and formulas - in momentary confusion, he nodded. “I do.”

Armin smiled with success. “Then you’ve got it.”

Jean managed a weak smile this time, putting his pencil and notebook away. “Thank you again, Armin.”

“Of course. If you need any more help with the notes on the next unit, tell me.” Armin reassured the other with a smile, packing his own things up.

“I might have to hold you to that, so don’t you go backing out of your offer, now.” he said drily, a dark tone coloring Jean’s voice.

The two stood and split ways, Armin laughing a little at the other’s comment. Jean made his way to the exit of the student lounge to the small coffee shop nearby to wake him up. He left the student lounge and walked down the small steps and the narrow concrete path that followed. Jean walked through the crisp, chilling air in a brisk manner, not wanting to spend much more time in the cold than necessary. He put his headphones back on and resumed the music that was playing half an hour ago, approaching the edge of campus. Turning the corner, he followed the sidewalk for another block and rounding that corner, too, before he approached the charming little coffee shop. A wooden sign hung from a pole that jutted out from the awning of the building, reading, in dark scripture, ‘Simple Luxuries.’ Jean pulled the glass door open, to find none other than Eren Jäger manning the counter 

‘How the hell did he get here so fast?!’ Jean immediately thought to himself, until he realized just how long he had taken with practicing calculus, thanks to Armin’s desire to be thorough about each example and all its facets. He approached the counter, pulling his headphones down to his neck. “Regular cappuccino.” Jean said, not bothering with niceties around the other.  
  
Eren raised his eyebrows at the audacity of Jean, and simply nodded. “Coming right up, horse-face. $3.05.” he said grumpily, still not over his prior outburst in the student lounge. Jean pulled out his wallet, grabbing a fiver and handing it to Eren, who then gathered $1.95 in change and handed it back to Jean.  
  
“Don’t spit in it.” Jean said darkly.

“Don’t give me ideas.” Eren retorted, brushing the other off and going to make the cappuccino. Jean waited for the coffee, yawning a little. A few minutes passed in silence, aside from the whistling and screeching of the milk steamer.Eren placed a lid on the cup of coffee, followed by a heat-protective sleeve, before handing it to Jean. “Cappuccino.” Eren said softly.  
  
“Thanks.” he took the coffee and turned to the door. Jean groaned, looking past the glass door of the coffee shop. It was snowing. Fantastic. He put his headphones back on his head, pushing the door open and feeling his body become consumed by the biting, seemingly acidic cold, enshrouded in a flurry of snow. Jean hesitantly took a sip of the coffee, raising an eyebrow. Jäger was a jackass, but he could make damn good coffee - exactly the temperature he wanted, and with some strong espresso. As he made his way towards campus, the snow continued whirling around him. Every few moments, he would take a sip from his coffee, letting its warmth spread from his throat to his chest and through his body. Jean let the caffeine work its way into his brain, waking him up slowly. He finally got back onto campus, still sipping his coffee and heading for the first class of his three for the day, Economics. Jean pulled his hood over his head, walking a bit faster as he entered the unsheltered courtyard that connected all adjoining departments and their respective buildings. The courtyard was exposed to the elements and dusted with a fine layer of snow, just enough to cover the ground. Jean found himself cringing at the chilling crunch and screech of the snow beneath his shoes, as though a banshee resided in the snow beneath his every step.   
  
When, at last, he reached a sheltered corridor again, he scraped the remaining snow from beneath his shoes against the dry cement of the path, glancing at his watch. He still had ten minutes to be in class, and another three of transit. Jean resumed walking, breath coming out a bit faster after his hurry of crossing the courtyard, and his breath created larger clouds of vapor than he had in the morning. He approached his classroom, pulled his hood down and opened the door, entering the room and bringing the door to a close behind him.

The Professor glanced at Jean and gave him a toothy smile, however, the smile was kind and welcoming. Jean inclined his head briefly and expressionlessly, heading to his seat in silence. He pulled his textbook from his bag, followed by a notebook and a pencil, setting up for class slowly, thankfully growing more and more awake due to the coffee.

Professor Pixis stood and opened the textbook at the front of the room. “Page 462.” he said simply, and everyone complied, opening their books to aforementioned page.   
  
“This is going to be a long class…” Jean thought with a sigh.


	3. Not Hungry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean gets dragged around like a ragdoll because he prefers isolation. ._.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the fucked up formatting. My computer and Ao3 don't mix. ._________. Sorry guys.

It was 8:30. Jean glanced at the page of his textbook, skimming the topic briefly as Professor Pixis began reading the topics for the lecture. “You will need to read this section on your own time. It will be useful for studying in preparation for the upcoming paper and furthermore the final exam.” Jean skimmed through the material faster, knowing that Pixis would begin the lecture any moment. After obtaining a simplified understanding of the complex material covered in the textbook, Jean shut his book and slid it back into his bag. He took a sip of his cappuccino, opening his notebook to a blank page and writing the date, followed by a small scrawling of words at the top. Jean groaned quietly, realizing just how rapidly finals were approaching, what with the reviewing in class. Pixis began talking, and throughout the classroom, you could hear synchronized pencils scratching on paper.

 

\--

 

Connie shoved his book into his bag and stood up from the small table in the student lounge that he had gone to after Sasha’s second breakfast, which she had shared with Connie. He put his book away, followed by his laptop. He knew he would need to get to Biology soon.

 

\--

 

Jean looked up as the lecture came to a close, making sure he had everything taken down that he needed.

 

“Your paper, remember, is due next week Wednesday. You will need to summarize all of the topics discussed today.” Pixis gave another toothy grin and waved a dismissive hand. “That’s all. Finals in three weeks. Good luck.”

 

And with that, the entire classroom erupted in a chorus of shuffling as papers, pencils, books and laptops were stuffed into bags. Two students remained in their seats, seemingly to get extra assistance. Everyone else, however, filed out of the classroom slowly, with the viscosity of molasses. When, finally, he got out of the classroom, he found a nearby trash can, depositing his now-empty coffee cup into it. He glanced at his watch. Quarter past ten. Fantastic - Economics had run overtime. That said, he still had time to get to Biology.

 

Jean began walking down the sheltered corridor, not bothering to putting his headphones back on. He was only a few minutes from his next class. Along the way, he saw Connie heading into the corridor from an attached pathway.   
  
“Jean!” Connie said, waving.  
  
“Hey, Connie. Did you do the paper?” Jean asked, falling into step with the shorter man, as they approached the Biology hallway.

 

Connie scoffed out a laugh. “I almost did, but I gave up. But Sasha, on the other hand, did.”  
  
Jean raised an uninterested eyebrow. “That’s unfortunate.” The rest of the walk was spent in silence, and they reached their next classroom without incident. The two crossed the threshold into the classroom which provided them with a blast of warm air as the door opened - in stark contrast to the piercing cold that enveloped the hallway they had just been in.

 

Connie’s face split into a grin as his eye caught Sasha triumphantly waving her paper at him, a smug smile on her face. Jean rolled his eyes and headed for his seat, pulling out another notebook and pencil.

 

The clock worked its way to 10:30 as the Professor played with her inherited rats. The school’s sister university’s experimental biochemistry department had found itself with a surplus of rats, and the professor had chosen her two favorite to take them off of the other department’s hands. Professor Hanji had introduced them to the class on the first day of the semester. The one with the pale fur was named Sawney. The bigger, darker one was Bean. The clock read 10:23, and Jean sighed, thinking he should have gotten a second coffee. His eyes found where Armin was sitting, and their eyes met. Jean acknowledged Armin with a small nod.  
  
Hanji stood, adjusting her glasses and putting the rats back into their cage. “Bacterial transformation.” she said, and everyone looked at her expectantly. “This is in preparation for your final. As it has always has been, your final will be a practical, not written. It will require observation, which is why we are covering this topic to a fuller extent.”

 

The class seemed to nod in unison. She nodded and began to walk to the back of the classroom. “Today will be a quick lab, but we will be touching on microbiology before finals. You will need to work in your pairs. Move to the lab next door.” Jean looked to Armin as the whole class stood, putting their supplies away and walking to the room next door, washing their hands as they entered and sitting at their lab stations. Armin sat beside Jean, the two working together.

 

“Microbiology. This should be interesting.” Armin said softly, watching as the rest of the room shuffled into their respective assigned pairs. Jean nodded.

 

Franz, the assistant instructor was gathering supplies, looking rather daunted with the task under Hanji’s instruction. A stack of agar plates was set at each station, followed by one marked with tape, reading, E. coli. A set of microtubules followed, in a foam holder. They were each labeled, and the students watched as Franz returned to the front of the room. “You should have printed out the handout for this lab. Get it out, and then get the rest of the supplies from the back, and start when you are ready.I will be observing your technique.”

 

Jean pulled his out and set it on the table, and Armin glanced at the paper on the table in front of him. Surveying it briefly, Jean made a suggestion. “Armin, you want to get the ice water? I can get the inoculation loops and pipettes.”  
  
“Sure.” Armin stood, as did Jean, and they retrieved their supplies before reconvening at their table. They separated the agar plates, looking at the empty labels that each one bore. They made sure the four microtubules were labeled as necessary,

 

Beginning to follow the procedure of the lab, they began to open the microtubules and transfer transformation solution into the + and - DNA tubules. Jean set up a timer, and they placed them back into their holder, and placed the holder into the container of ice water that Armin had brought. The timer alerted them to when two minutes had passed, and they removed the microtubules. Jean removed a sterile loop and gathered colonies from the E. coli starter plate, adding it to the + DNA tubule. Armin followed suit, repeating the process and placing the bacteria into the - DNA tube.

 

Franz came around to their table,holding a box and watching Jean and Armin go about their work, few words were shared for minimal communication, but they remained effective.

 

“Here’s the plasmid DNA.” he set a small bottle on the desk in an open area, smiling and moving on to Connie’s desk with Reiner.

 

Armin added two loopfuls of plasmid to one tube, leaving the other untouched. They set another timer, and set the microtubule holder in the ice water once more. They labeled the agar plates and waited, making small, weak attempts at smalltalk.

 

\--

 

Jean performed the heat shock while Armin timed. They transferred the bacteria to the plates, which they then stacked and set aside, prepared for incubation. Each plate was labeled with their names, and they began cleaning their workspace.  
  
Hanji entered the lab and made her way around, encouraging her students in a manner bordering repelling. She slowly began gathering each pair’s set of plates, setting them in her box.

 

Jean took the remaining materials and placed them in the biohazard box. The students all slowly cleaned up and washed their hands. Hanji returned from the incubation lab, giving a final summarization lecture, as well as a topic list for the finals. Nearly two hours had passed over the course of the lab. Hanji dismissed the class, and they all shuffled out of the lab. Jean gave Armin a small half-smile, putting his headphones on. He was finding some music when Connie clapped a hand onto his shoulder.  
  
“Hey, Jean. Let’s go have lunch.” Connie said, grinning as they walked.  
  
Jean raised a disinterested eyebrow. “... Can I not? I’m not a very sociable person, if you hadn’t put that together already, Connie.” he mumbled. The two were in the snowy courtyard, walking towards the edge of campus.

 

“Oh, come on, our old highschool friends are trying to get closer again, so they’re doing lunch today. Suck it up and come along, Jean!” Connie insisted.  
  
“Your old highschool friends, you mean.” Jean corrected. “I’m not interested.”  
  
Connie dragged Jean by the arm. “You’re coming with me. Hey, I’ll let you have some alone brooding time in the dorm tonight.” he offered, laughing.

 

“Urgh, fuck, Connie, no. I don’t brood. I just prefer being alone.” Jean protested, yanking his arm free.  
  
Connie made an upset face. “Why are you never any fun? I just want you to come have lunch with us as an old reunion, and you have to get cranky about it.”   
  
Jean raised both eyebrows, unimpressed. “That’s unfortunate.” he said drily, turning back for the edge of campus, thinking about going to get another coffee.

 

“One lunch. Come on.” Connie said exasperatedly.  
  
“No.” Jean kept walking and turned his music on. Connie ran after him and tugged him by the handle of his backpack.  
  
“Suit yourself. It’s too bad you have to always be the one to ruin it.” Connie taunted him - challenged him, even.  
  
“I don’t care. Your fun is yours, you don’t need me anyway - see?” Jean didn’t miss a step.  
  
“... Jean, please--  
  
“What do I get out of it?!” Jean snapped.  
  
“Friends. A reunion, maybe even new friends.” Connie answered.  
  
“If I go to your goddamn lunch will you stop bitching and moaning about it?” Jean hissed, glaring daggers at the much shorter man.  
  
Connie looked expectant. “Duh.”  
  
Jean groaned. “Fuck it. Fine!” he turned around once more, following Connie to the cafe.

They entered the cafe with another swarm of welcoming warm air. “There they are!” Connie said, lighting up with a smile. He practically dragged Jean to the table. “Obviously you know almost all of them.” He said animatedly.  
  
Jean raised an eyebrow, looking the little cloud of people over and nodding. “I do.”He saw the faces of people he hadn’t seen in at least a year - Annie, Bertholdt and Ymir. He saw faces of people he knew and saw occasionally - Armin, Mikasa, Reiner, Sasha, and Eren. There was, however, a face he did not know. He gave her a quizzical look, and she smiled. “I’m Krista. We haven’t met before.” she supplied. Jean gave her a grateful nod, replying in turn. “I’m Jean. Friend of Connie’s, mainly.”  
  
Connie, upon hearing his name in conversation, looked up from where he was setting his bag down. “Yeah, Krista and I met through statistics.” he said absentmindedly.  
  
Jean set his bag down hesitantly, still uncomfortable with sitting and eating with such a large group. Connie heads to go buy some food, and motions for Jean to join him. Rolling his eyes, he slowly followed Connie, purchasing himself a meal. Sasha trails after them, perusing the foods available. Soon, they are all sitting at the table once again, and Jean sits awkward and quiet. His focus is on poking his food, occasionally taking a bite and chewing quietly.  
  
“Right, Jean?”  
  
His head slowly raises, eyes glancing between all of the faces around him. “Uh… what?”

Connie shakes his head. “I was telling them the story of how we all met. This is a reunion, Jean…” he laughs softly.

 

Jean responded with a small shrug. “Nice.”

 

After that small interaction, Jean began actually listening to the conversations around him. He heard talk of college, high school, personal affairs that he really didn’t need to know. Complaints of finals, a brief lesson on calculus - for which he had been practically tutored earlier in the day. Yet he chose not to participate, keeping himself removed from his conversation. He occasionally looked up, making eye contact with someone awkwardly. Mikasa once met his eyes, and he immediately looked back down. He silently cursed himself for ever agreeing to this lunch. However, Annie seemed to be just as quiet as he, if not more, eating her food quietly and observing the socializing.

 

Jean kept poking at and slowly nibbling his food, until he had finished the meal. Usually he was much more hungry, but he blamed his lack of appetite on the anxiety of being in such a large group.

 

After much animated conversation, laughter, and threatening, Krista glanced at her phone’s clock. “Connie, we have statistics in twenty-five minutes.” at this, Jean glanced up, wondering if Connie was going to really leave - his loyalty to statistics was questionable at best. However, when he looked around, he was not seeing Connie contemplating or even debating it. His smile just fell into a somewhat shocked expression, and Jean followed his gaze. Ymir had pulled Krista into her lap, and was kissing her deeply, an arm wound protectively around the much smaller woman’s waist. Connie and Reiner were the first to start chuckling, and upon coming to this realization, reached over the table for a high-five. Ymir’s eyes opened at the laughter, but, even as Krista placed her hands on the taller woman’s chest and pushed away, she would not part their lips. The brunette’s glare quickly silenced Connie’s laughter, but he still wore a smile.

 

“Uhh, I guess I’ll see you in statistics, then.” Connie kept grinning, throwing away the remainder of his food packaging and refuse. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, and finally - finally - Ymir released her hold on Krista, who was red-faced, breathing heavily and teary-eyed. She smiled sheepishly, threw her rubbish away and hurriedly slung her bag onto her shoulder. “Y-Yeah, see you later…!” she scurried to catch up with Connie, who laughed at whatever she said and slung an arm around her shoulder. Reiner placed a hand on Ymir’s shoulder as her eyes practically ignited with possession. “He’s just going to class with her, calm down.” his words were soft yet firm.  
  
Krista and Connie’s departure was the catalyst of the little gaggle of people who had gathered for lunch. Annie walked away soon after, not really making clear her destination. Ymir, done with classes for the day, went back to her dorm. Reiner and Bertholdt went to the student lounge, and as Reiner hissed persuasion at Bertholdt that they were, indeed, out of sight, he took the taller man’s hand in his own, much to the surprise of an incredulous Eren, not so much to everyone else. Sasha headed back to her own dorm for a nap before her next class at 4, and Mikasa drove Armin and Eren to Armin’s dorm, the reasoning behind which Mikasa shamelessly explained, labeling Armin as Eren’s boytoy. Jean spluttered a little. Jean eventually decided to work on his Economics paper, and headed for the library.

  
Slowly making his way across the snowy campus to the library, he put his headphones on and let the music overtake most of his senses, overwhelmed by the large amounts of social interaction he had been forced into. Jean entered the library, finding a suitable desk with those neat built-in dividers in a small, secluded corner of the library beside a window. He pulled out his notebook with all of his microeconomics notes, and his laptop. He pulled up a new document and started drafting out his evidence, knowing himself well in that his weakness was brought about by a lack of evidence in his papers. Jean’s music was still blasting in his ears, but he didn’t mind -- with music was when and where he learned best. Soon enough, he pulled out his textbook and read the section Pixis had mentioned and that Jean had subsequently marked. More notes were jotted down, more evidence was accrued, and he was soon looking at a laptop screen filled with potential paper material. Deciding to be proactive, Jean saved the document so as to prevent any possible disasters.  
  
It was rare that Jean took some serious steps in thinking ahead, and it was a great improvement that he was working on his paper so early. He had finished up the skeleton of his papers and glanced at the clock on the taskbar of his computer screen. An hour had passed, and he was making slow and steady progress - something to be proud of. Resuming his work, Jean had papers scattered in a semicircle around his laptop in the center of the desk. It grew too warm for his tastes, and he pulled his black jacket off, left in a black thermal with a My Chemical Romance tee over it. He began chewing the end of his pencil in concentration and his phone buzzed. Glancing at it, he saw that it was Eren who had texted him.  
  
‘Professor Smith is getting that new assistant today, right?’  
  
Jean glanced disinterestedly and rather disheartened at his phone before sighing and responding.  
  
‘Yeah, so what?’

 

‘Okay thanks’

 

Jean scoffed silently, shoving his phone into his pocket. He started back on his paper, and soon enough, he had his evidence paragraphs pretty damn well drafted. And when he glanced at the clock, it was ten past three.

  
Jean closed his textbook and notebook, sliding them into his bag. He saved the new document and closed it, shutting his laptop and putting it into his bag, as well. He cleaned up the desk area he had been sitting and working at, making sure he had everything of his and furthermore everything that he needed. Jean pulled his hoodie back on, knowing quite well that it would be bitterly cold outside if he didn’t. He stood up, heading out of the library, music still filling his ears.  
  
He headed for the nearest cafe, wanting another cup of coffee to drink during Linguistics. A new assistant, a lecture and Eren would prove exhausting.  
  
He approached the cafe and bought a hot cappuccino, beginning to drink it as he slowly made his way towards the Linguistics class. Stepping out into the cold again, Jean was encased in the familiar feeling of chill. He smiled darkly to himself at the sensation, approaching the language department building. He pulled the door open and stepped inside, drinking more of his coffee. He tapped his thigh to the beat of his music with his free hand. Rounding a corner, he finally approached the destination classroom, stepping through the door that was propped open by a doorstop.  
  
His strides slowed as he eyed the figure at the front of the room. He was a fierce-looking, small man. Built sturdily and strong, but… definitely small in stature. The professor stood up, seemingly in search of something, and he pulled his reading glasses off and set them on his desk, holding his tie to his chest as he stood. Now the unfamiliar man seemed even smaller next to the towering professor.  
  
This must be the assistant. Jean concluded, closing his mouth and resuming his walking to his seat. He kept his eyes on the two men at the front of the room as he sat in his seat, barely noticing the last few students slipping into their seats around him. Jean was greatly amused by the new assistant. Said assistant turned back to the professor’s desk and shuffled some papers into a neat stack, wiping the desk down with an antibacterial wipe. Jean’s eyes silently widened. Was the professor telling him to do that? Jean couldn’t imagine it, and concluded that it must have been of the smaller man’s own volition.  
  
Catching a glimpse of his facial expressions, Jean was enamored in a manner of something like disgusted intrigue - much like the face that the assistant was currently wearing, his eyebrows furrowed as though he had lost the ability to smile long ago. Professor Smith turned back around to witness the other cleaning his desk off, and he gave an amused smile, furrowing his own eyebrows. “It can’t be helped, can it?” he asked quietly, turning to the class which had assembled without much incident. Aside from Eren bumbling through the door obnoxiously, everything seemed orderly.  
  
Professor Smith introduced the man as Levi. He was the new assistant instructor that we had all been expecting for a week and a half now. He would be there to provide extra assistance and clarifications on the lessons, lectures, presentations and reviews that Smith would provide. Levi then began to introduce himself, seeming quite disinterested in doing so. He seemed to have been working in the Reading, Composition and Research class with Professor Dawk.   
  
Jean raised an eyebrow, his eyes widening in almost alarm at how greatly their personalities would clash, from what he knew. Levi didn’t seem to have fared too well from the experience, either. That said, Levi was seeming to enjoy being in the presence of the more… user-friendly… Professor. Jean silently laughed at his own phrasing choice. Levi sighed a little and headed to the side of the smartboard at the front of the room, sitting in the small chair he found there.

  
Professor Smith turned on the projector, letting the students all pull their notebooks out and prepare their note papers. Watching the shuffling of papers, he waited another thirty seconds until everyone was settled, and he began summarizing the topics for the lecture. They would be reviewing typology and delving further into psycholinguistics. These lessons would last the next two, until the end of next week, when the final would be assigned.

 

Jean sighed and took notes as Erwin lectured. To be perfectly honest, he loved Professor Smith’s teaching style. It was straightforward and logical, while maintaining its ability to be applicable, as well as as a level of enjoyment in reaching conclusions and discoveries within the class. It was paced perfectly for Jean, which rarely ever happened. It was the class he enjoyed most, frankly. And it was for this reason that the class passed rather quickly. He sat far enough from Eren and close enough to the professor to focus. He had taken really concise notes, and as he reviewed them, he let a small, smug smile creep onto his face as he prided himself upon the relevance of all the notes he had taken. Jean really was getting the hang of it -- right before finals.  
  
“We meet again next Tuesday for discussion.” Erwin concluded, looking around the classroom for any obvious signs of perplexion among his students. He saw none, and gave a dismissive nod. Everyone put their materials away and stood in unison, slowly filing out of the classroom with a quiet rush of mumbled chatter on the way. Eren stayed behind in the classroom, making it a point to introduce himself to the new assistant instructor, who seemed so utterly disinterested that it was painful to watch them interact - polar opposites. Eren was extremely enthused, while Levi was barely cooperating. Erwin stood by his desk, watching with amusement clear on his face. After Levi had promptly shut Eren’s interrogation of him down, Eren hesitantly thanked him and walked out. Jean was already out the door, music filling his ears and letting him be at ease.

 

He glanced at his watch, and was impressed that Erwin had condensed the lesson into the allotted time, as usual, even with the introductions at the beginning of class. It was half past five and already dark out. He sighed. Winter, huh? With his classes done for the day, he started heading towards the dorms, suddenly anxious to be home. Jean’s eyes snapped to a figure in his peripherals as said figure hurried down the snow-covered path, and the nearby makeshift streetlamp illuminated the figure, showing a flushed, freckled face in a wool pea coat. The figure seemed quite bothered by the cold and continued hurrying down the path. What bothered Jean, though, was the striking familiarity that the face bore.

 

A few minutes of walking with furrowed brows and a mind full of confusion later, he brushed it off. He approached his dorm building, stepping into it and walking to the staircase. Jean reached his dorm’s hallway and approached his door, pulling out his keys. Unlocking the door, he flicked the light on, watching it illuminate the small kitchen. Jean shut the door and walked to the sofa, dropping his bag down. He pulled his headphones off and unplugged them from his phone, wrapping the cord and setting them on the side table, proceeding to plug his phone into the speakers on the counter beside him. He adjusted the volume, letting the music play loud enough for him to hear it throughout the dorm.  
  
He unzipped his hoodie and slung it over one of two chairs in their makeshift dining room. Jean headed for the bedroom, pulling his tee and thermal off, feeling gross from being under three layers all day, even despite the cold. He put his clothes in the hamper and decided on another shower, taking his shoes and socks off and heading for the bathroom. The tiles of the bathroom floor were cold on his feet, and he shuddered, now shirtless in the stale air of the bathroom. Jean turned the light on, reaching past the shower curtain and turning the water on, running a hand through his hair tiredly. He waited a few seconds for the heat to come to the water, and he pulled his jeans and boxer briefs down and off his legs.   
  
Stepping into the shower for the second time that day, he relished the way the warm water ran down his body and thawed him out, cleaned him off. He had already washed his hair that day, so he focused instead on cleaning his body off. Jean washed himself, enjoying how clean he felt. And his thoughts wandered to that new assistant, who was wiping the table down -- Levi. Levi had looked so intent in cleaning the desk, it was almost comical. Jean washed his face off beneath the streams of water from the shower head. He closed his eyes, rinsing all of the soap and grime from his body before turning the shower off. Pulling the shower curtain to the side, Jean let himself drip dry for a moment and grabbed his towel. He roughly dried his hair and pat his face dry, running the towel along his limbs to dry enough to step out. Jean wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out, pulling the shower curtain to its full extension behind him. He walked to his dresser and pulled out an old black t-shirt and a pair of black and red plaid boxers; Jean put the clothes on and hung his towel, running his fingers through his hair to comb it into looking halfway-decent.   
  
He headed into the small kitchen area, deciding to make a small dinner. After rummaging through the few cupboards they had, he settled on a box of macaroni and cheese which he then set on the counter as he filled a pot with water and set it on the two-burner stove to boil. Jean sighed and sat down on the sofa, enjoying the music that filled the dorm. A few uneventful moments later and he heard the water beginning to boil over. He hurried into the kitchen and turned the temperature of the water down, pouring the pasta into the boiling water and starting a timer on the microwave. He grabbed his bag from the couch and fished out his laptop, logging I'm and finding his economics paper, rereading what he had already written and making minor grammatical adjustments. Jean moved his torso a little to the beat of the music, letting some time pass with ease. The microwave beeped loudly in cacophonous discord with the melody of the current song, and Jean stood. He drained the pasta and added the margarine, milk and cheese, letting it mix on low for a while. Jean served himself a bowl of the food, grabbing a fork and shuffling back to the couch, eating the still-hot food and working on his term paper.

 

Jean had edited the entire paper's first draft and eaten one ands half bowls of mac and cheese when his phone died, subsequently shutting the music off. He stood and plugged his phone into the charger, waiting for it to power back on, at which point he opened his messages.

 

'You coming home soon or what?'

 

Connie's phone buzzed and he replied, 'Miss me?'

 

Jean hurriedly moved his phone charger to his bedside. 'No, just wondering if I really do get that fucking brooding time, asshat.' He replied snarkily. 

'Of course!'  Jean's phone buzzed and he rolled his eyes.

 

'Oh, fuck you.' Connie laughed as he read the reply, sending back an, 'Ew no'

 

Rapidly losing patience, he lay down and stretched lazily. 'Don't come home, actually.' Jean replied, irked.  
  
'AW JEAN DONT BE SO MEAN' Connie sent back, greatly amused.

  
'I’m not, now shut your face.'

  
'I’m texting, so I’m not using my face…'

 

'And you won't be for a long fucking while.'

 

No further reply from Connie, and Jean decided to just go to bed. As he went back to the kitchen to get water, however, the Xbox caught his eye. He pondered for a moment, and sighed a soft, "fuck it," as he made his way to the sofa again and plugged it all in, deciding on Call of Duty.

 

The door flung open not ten minutes later, Connie's stupid grin filling the room from the doorway. "Honey, I'm home!"

 

Jean raised an irritated eyebrow, growling a curse as he was caught by surprise by a barrage of attacks. Earnestly shutting the door, Connie set his things down and pulled out a second controller, hooking it up and having Jean restart.

  
The two continued playing for the next hour, and then Jean, following defeat, decided to actually go to bed. Left to put everything away, Connie didn't, and instead grabbed his phone, texting Marco.

 

'Where were you at lunch today?'

 

Several minutes later,  a reply came. 'Working... Sorry.'

 

Connie seemed intrigued, 'Where do you work?'

 

'Oh, this little coffee shop down the road from campus called Simple Luxuries.'

 

'Haha okay I thought I was crazy when I saw your name on the shift list' Connie laughed as he replied. Deciding to add on to his message, he typed, 'Plans still on for tomorrow?'

 

'Of course!'

 

'Fantastic. See you at six.' Connie set his phone down and stripped to his boxers, practically flinging himself into bed.


End file.
